From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

Ernest Cline

Start date: June 20, 2013

Finish date: July 1, 2013

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

* What is a good book for AW discussion? (Nominations pool)
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* AW Book Club: what we've read
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What Members Thought

Jul 01, 2013 Jennifer rated it it was ok

Wrote a review already, goodreads ate it :/

So, all I will say is this book while entertaining, was horribly written and just seemed like an excuse for the author to prove how much of a geek he is and how much he remembers of the 80's :/

The information dumps about the decade, stopped the book in its tracks every time they happened, which felt like all the time. I don't understand the hype about this book, the 80's were not that great of a decade. Near the end, I wanted the bad guys to win, so th ...more

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Feb 04, 2015 Guy rated it it was amazing

The year is 2044. Life is bleak. The future more so. The main character resides in a "stack" : mobile homes, RVs, railroad boxcars, anything a person might conceivably live in, stacked on top of one another. In this case in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. A vertical slum.

The Internet has been superceded by a virtual reality universe called the OASIS. Anyone who is able spends (virtually) every waking moment in the OASIS. Reality is too terrible to deal with.

The creator of the OASIS who if not the The year is 2044. Life is bleak. The future more so. The main character resides in a "stack" : mobile homes, RVs, railroad boxcars, anything a person might conceivably live in, stacked on top of one another. In this case in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. A vertical slum.

The Internet has been superceded by a virtual reality universe called the OASIS. Anyone who is able spends (virtually) every waking moment in the OASIS. Reality is too terrible to deal with.

The creator of the OASIS who if not the richest man in the world is certainly one of them dies leaving his entire estate to whoever can find the "Easter Egg" that he has hidden in the OASIS. He loved the pop culture of the 80's so the clues to the egg's location would probably be found there.

The thing that drew me to this book was the 80's references. I am also a big fan of that decade. It has also most of the elements I look for in a pleasure read: interesting characters, heroes and villains, a murder, romance, and most importantly a good story. This one is well written and has pace. With a quest thrown in for good measure.

I have never played a video game. I never owned a computer until 1999. (It was a Gateway. What ever happened to Gateway? They were a big deal back then.) So the references to classic video games and vintage computer models were mostly lost on me. And it didn't really matter. The story relied on the characters. Both in the real world and in the virtual world of the OASIS.

The author did a good job with the 80's references. He gave a shout out to William Gibson's novel Neuromancer without which this work would not be possible. The game creator's favorite 80's movie is Blade Runner which is also my favorite film depicting a dystopian future.

The musical choices are also right on. Particularly New Order and Duran Duran. All in all an enjoyable experience that kept me within reach of my digital reading device until I reached the end of the book. The author has another book coming out in July which seems to be in a similar vein and I will be on the lookout for it.

Now if somebody would just write a novel as homage to English football of the same era. Anyone?

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Feb 13, 2012 Chris Sachnik rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favs, read-not-owned, audio-books, e-books, whispersynch

I didn't really read this; i listened to the unabbriged audiobook.
This book channels the spirit of the current teen-dystopian fiction genre, but takes it to another level with the simple fact that this book is chock-full-o-80's references, and I have to feel that most of them would be lost on today's teens.

The story is enjoyable, and surprising. I found myself making guesses about certain things and finding that I was wrong most of the time. I like that; it shows that the author was anything bu ...more

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Jun 06, 2017 Michael Johnson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, owned

I loved this concept, the characters were good, the plot works and all, but I can't give it a full five stars. I think I'm about 5 years too young to fully appreciate all the references and even though the book was originally released in 2011, 2017 has some of the aspects of future technology seeming almost quaint. These things are minor, my real problem with this book; lord have mercy on this, yet unborn generation, who would use a work like 'gunters' to describe themselves. Reading that word o ...more

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Jun 02, 2014 Aimee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fun-reads, sf-fantasy, award-winners, culture, 2014

If you ever played an arcade, computer, or role-playing game in the 80s, this book will charm you and have you laughing out loud. Ready Player One is set in a future (2045) where most people go to school and work in a virtual world called the OASIS. Oh, and they are obsessed with 80s pop culture. It is basically massively multiplayer mayhem that touches on nearly every major game or trend from the period. Great, light-hearted read with plucky heroes fighting soulless corporate drones. What's not ...more

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Jun 18, 2013 Jenelle Compton rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, apocalyptic-dystopian

A fun read! I really liked all of the 80's references. The random hacker lore was all true and added to the story.
The main character starts out as a nerdy fat kid and totally follows a heroes path to save the day in the end.

This book was interesting and fun to read. The idea of the entire world being obsessed with a video game and an "egg hunt", while the actual world is a terrible dystopia made for a fun story!

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